The Two Brothers
by Joey Destructo
Summary: What happens when a young Jedi disappears with the information that could save the Jedi Order? PG-13 for later chapters.Chapter 6 up!
1. The Search

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars(though I wish I did).  
All I own are my characters, Jared and Fajo Enroc, Bis'Hal  
Yosan and Nath Aun and my system, the Kresyac system.  
  
Star Wars  
  
The Two Brothers  
  
Fajo and Jared Enroc were brothers. The  
Force was very strong in them, strong enough  
to rival that of some Council members. Although  
Fajo was far too old, they were trained,  
and they learned remarkable fast.  
  
After having been a Jedi apprentice to his  
brother for nearly a decade, Jared suddenly  
disappeared. No Jedi knew anything about  
the young Padawan's strange absence.  
  
Disturbed by his brother's disappearance, Fajo  
searched for Jared himself. When he turned up  
nothing, he decided to go to Jared's best friend....  
  
Fajo walked soundlessly to the resting chambers of the Jedi Knight Bis'hal Yosan. He pressed the comm button and waited for a reply. "Who is it?" came a young voice."It's Fajo," he replied. "Do you want to talk to my Master?" inquired the voice. "Actually," said Fajo, "I want to talk to you." "Really?" said the voice. "Well, then come in." Fajo entered as the door slid open.  
Bis'hal's Padawan, Nath Aun was Jared's best friend, so if anyone would know about him, Nath would. "Nath," began Fajo, "I assume you know about Jared's disappearance, am I right?" Nath nodded. "Well, then, I came here to find out if Jared said anything to you within a week before his disappearance." "Yes, we talked at least once a day, everyday," Nath said. "That's how I knew that something was wrong." "He didn't get in touch with you?" asked Fajo. "Uh- huh," said Nath. "Jared didn't call me at all that day." "What was the last thing you heard him say?" inquired Fajo. "Well," said Nath, "He said he was leaving for a some secret mission." We didn't have a mission that day, thought Fajo, We had just gotten back from one. "Did he say or do anything related to that mission?" asked Fajo, rather intrigued now. "When I went over to your quarters to talk to him, he was reviewing maps and muttering about 'places to hide', or something like that," said Nath. "Did you get a look at those maps, Nath?" asked Fajo. "Yeah, they all showed the middle- class section of the city surrounding the Temple, and most of them had hotels or private residences on them," said Nath. "Thank you very much, Nath," said Fajo. "You're welcome, master," said Nath. "May the Force be with you," said Fajo. "May the Force be with you," replied Nath.  
Fajo searched all the hotels and private residences in the middle section of the city surrounding the Jedi Temple. On his last trip of the day, he noticed that in the hotel he went to, sixty-seven room keys were off the wall, but the clerk at the front desk said there were sixty-six rooms checked out. "Which rooms are checked out?" asked Fajo. The clerk handed him a printout. "These," he said. Room 209 wasn't on the list, but the key was gone. It must be Jared, thought Fajo, because he never carries enough credits to rent a room. "Perhaps I could look for the missing key," said Fajo, nudging the clerk's mind. "You could look for the missing key," said the clerk. He gestured to the rooms to his left. "Go on back," he said.  
Fajo walked to room 209 and tried to open it, but it was locked. Fajo  
  
stepped back and focused on the locking mechanism. The door clicked and slid open. He walked in to find a note laying on the bed. Fajo picked up it. It read: "Fajo, if you are reading this note, I have left the hotel and am boarding a transport. I have discovered very important information. I dare not tell you my exact destination, for reasons I'd rather not say. I did not come forward and tell anyone, for they may have been the one who I'm looking for. I need to discuss this with you. Meet me at the site of our worst mission.  
  
-Jared  
Fajo and Jared's worst mission site was the time they encountered a snakelike species. It caused its prey to go into convulsive coughing with a gas, then constricted it while it coughed, which worked well, because with each breath it only got tighter. They only escaped because Jared was congested and could barely breath, so he wasn't affected much and could kill the creatures. That was on the first moon of Kresyac, in a region unexplored because of legends of unspeakable monsters, which, ironically, happened to exist.  
Of course he wanted to go there! If the legends didn't scare off people, the guards usually would. The forests were always guarded by their best soldiers, for the villagers did not wish outlanders to go into the forest and bring the curse back to their towns, should the outlander happen to return. But with his Jedi talents, Jared could've slipped past. Only someone with extreme persuasive powers and the nerve to go into the region would go in.  
With the permission of the Jedi Council, Fajo took a Jedi starfighter and jumped into hyperspace. Upon arrival, Fajo released from his docking ring and sped off towards the first moon of Kresyac. Fajo was glancing back a rear display panel when something caught his eye. Turning farther, he saw what it was. His docking ring was being attacked! Fajo turned back and sprayed laser fire in the general direction of the source of the enemy fire. Several bolts struck something invisible. It ceased its fire on the ring and resumed fire upon Fajo.  
Fajo ducked and swerved, trying to avoid the incoming bolts while firing some shots of his own. Something exploded, and the ship uncloaked, giving Fajo his first look at his enemy. The ship was unfamiliar to Fajo, a dagger-shape, but the Archives might shed some light on it. It was blood- red, but it was not painted that way. Where his laser bolts had struck it, there were scars in the hull and he could see the red metal was about two meters thick. It was some kind of sheilding, but obviously wasn't laser or missile, because his own relatively weaker lasers had torn through it without much difficulty.  
Turning on his holorecorder for the records, he focused it on the ship and proceeded to fire his lighning. What happened next shocked Fajo. The lightning bolts rained heavily on the ship, but they poured off the ship's sides. Only the gouges where his lasers had torn through to gray durasteel were affected. It was Force sheilding! Trying his time slowdown, he found the ship turned and manuevered just as nimbly as he could. Without warning, the ship jumped into hyperspace, leaving him alone. Fajo considered pursuing, but he needed to find Jared, the ship could have changed course, and his docking ring was all but destroyed. All he could do was go down to the planet. Besides, now, he needed what Jared knew.  
  
Ok, there you go! This is only the first  
chapter of my first fic, so please be kind  
and review my story. 


	2. The Recovery

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any Star Wars stuff except what I  
make up in my head.  
  
The Two Brothers  
  
Once past the guards, Fajo made his way into the forest. Strange calls and cries drifted through the misty air, while all around him unknown animals darted in the foliage. It was possible for you to let go and believe you had gone back to a time when there were no speeders, hyperdrive ships, blasters, or HoloNet. It was easy to lose yourself here, and indeed, many people dreamed of coming here and casting away the burdens of the modern era. But few ever followed through. Even though the natives were perfectly happy to let you go into the forest as long as you promised never to come back, the truth was, people were too afraid. They had been taught what miniscule amount scientists had been able to determine about this planet, and frankly they were terrified. In some respects, it was even worse than the lethal ecology of Kashyyyk, and they didn't even know a a tenth of what there was to know about this planet.  
Fajo shook his head, clearing his mind. He produced a GPS(Galactic Positioning Satellite) receiver and turned it on. After a few moments, the screen loaded and showed the galaxy. Touching the screen, he selected the appropriate quadrant. He selected the Kresyac system, then the first moon. He entered in the coordinates for the site where they were attacked by the, what were they called now? The shugintu. The location and his current position popped up, and at his request, a blue line drew itself a curved path along the screen, showing him the best route according to speed, but without too much difficulty. Fajo printed out the screen and put away the reciever.  
Following the map, it took about an hour to reach his destination. About halfway there, Fajo was running along when something burst out of the foliage. Fajo twisted, quickly took out his lightsaber and lashed out at the monster. Going so fast, the monster just kept going and went through the trees on the other side of the path. Fajo heard the c-c-r-r-a-c-c-k-k of trees breaking. That was some beast, thought Fajo, taking down trees as it went down!  
Finally, Fajo stepped into the clearing where he and Jared had their encounter with the shugintu. Looking around, he could now tell that this was a nesting site at some time. Probably shugintu lived here and we drove them out, thought Fajo. There was a tug at his mind that made him turn his head.  
Not surprisingly, it was Jared. "Good work, Master," said Jared. "Although I'd expected you about 15 minutes earlier." "I got a little side tracked," said Fajo. "To say the least," replied Jared with a smile. "You saw that?" "Set it up, actually. Had to make sure it was you." Fajo smiled. "Well, let's hear what you've got." Just then, the ground exploded. 


	3. The Capture and Escape

Disclaimer: Like I already said, I don't own Star Wars!  
  
The Two Brothers  
  
Fajo and Jared were thrown bodily through the air. They landed on their feet, lightsabers at the ready, as any Jedi would be expected to do. Try as he might, Fajo could sense nothing. "It's their armor!" Fajo shouted, suddenly remembering the fighter. Jared nodded his agreement.  
A rocket burst through the foliage headed for the brothers. Rolling away, they managed to avoid the explosion, but it released a gas. Fajo inhaled a breath of it and quickly turned away. "It's knockout gas!" he yelled, as another two rockets rushed toward them and exploded in their faces. Unable to avoid the gas they were forced to hold their breath.  
But not even a Jedi can hold his breath forever.  
  
*******************************************************  
  
Fortunately, the gas provided cover enough for Fajo to call his ship and for them to take off. However, since it was only a one-man fighter, Jared had to fold up inside the cargo hold with an air recycler. They took off and went into orbit, their plan to return to the planet again and catch a ride aboard a freighter. But that was not to be the case.  
While in the cargo hold, Jared felt the ship rock suddenly, and then turn and dive repeatedly. Jared held on to a couple of rails for support, but suddenly the ship rocked again and his head smashed into the corner of a box, and as the world turned black, Jared heard quite distinctly the sound of something metal clamping down on the ship.  
  
*******************************************************  
  
Jared awoke suddenly as a voice called into his head. The voice seemed to rejuvenate him and he no longer felt the pounding in his head, the ache of his muscles, or his hunger and thirst. Jared, the voice said, it's Fajo. I'm sending you what strength I have. It's up to you. I have been captured. You are still in the cargo hold. The sheilding around the cargo hold and your unconscious state were adequate to hide you from sensors. Go now. You must leave! I will be fine. Your information is imperative to the survival of the Jedi. Jared replied, I will leave a copy of what I know in the cargo hold. You can get it if I don't make it.  
With that, Jared quietly opened the door to the cargo hold and slipped out.  
  
*******************************************************  
For the better part of two hours, Jared stalked the halls of his captors' ship, looking for a computer terminal while dodging cameras and the red-armored Jin'Ha, as they were called. Finally, when he was about to consider doing a manual search for what he was looking for, he passed what appeared to be a breifing room. Making sure nothing or no one would see him, he ducked inside.  
It was indeed a briefing room. There were suits of armor hanging on the wall, a holoprojector on a table in the center of the room, and a computer terminal in the corner. Jared decided it would be best to at least try to pose as a Jin'Ha. Removing his tattered Jedi robes, he discarded them in an incinerator chute and slipped on a body glove that was hanging next to one of the red suits. After a minute he was dressed in a complete suit of armor and carried his belongings he had on his Jedi belt in a more modern belt. However, his lightsaber he put in the underside of his right armor sleeve, so no one would see it and also for quick withdrawal. Remembering something, he went over to a ventalation shaft, opened the grate, and tossed a long-range tracking device inside, closing the grate after it.  
From what Jared had gathered walking the halls, this was quite a large ship. He punched in a few buttons. A schematic appeared on the screen. Yep, it was roughly the size of a Republic troop transport. And for a ship that size to be out this far in the galaxy carrying the people it did, it had to be a warship. And warships always had deep storage for craft that the ship captured or seized. Now that he had a schematic on the screen, he could see that there was a deep storage in the aft section of the large rectangular ship.  
Here would come the test of his computer lessons. Jared would need to hack into the secure section and get an assignment in deep storage, all the while covering his tracks. In a few minutes, the assignment list showed up. He switched a weapons test flight of a ship in deep storage from a guy ID numbered 802605 to him, his ID number 509478. He hoped they believed it.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
The guard had waved him through with no hesitation and gave the keycard to the ship he would be flying. Luckily, he had gotten a fast, reasonably shielded and amply armed fighter. He had made it past the third of five sets of blast doors along a flight shaft when a siren suddenly began to wail. "Intruder alert!" a hoarse voice kept repeating. Jared knew they had found his handiwork and gunned the engines. He shot past the first set of closing doors with no problem. As he shot towards the set of bast doors leading to space, he knew he could not make it. He had only one option. Blast them. Flipping the cover on the top of his control bar, he pressed the trigger for the proton torpedoes. Two large missiles streaked forward and completely obliterated the blast doors. More than that, the force field was deactivated and Jared could see red armored bodies flying through the open hatch. He passed the hatch and was outside. Lasers blasted at him from every direction. It took most of his concentration to avoid the lasers, but he managed to set a course for Coruscant. He activated the hyperdrive and stars turned into streaks and then into a swirling blue nothingness of hyperspace, giving Jared his first sign of safety. As he settled down for a fairly long trip, he made a vow to himself. Fajo, I will come back and rescue you. I promise. 


	4. The Recovery

Disclaimer: Star wars is not mine, only Fajo, Jared, the Kresyac system,  
and whatever else I think of on my own.  
  
The Two Brothers  
  
Jared's fighter dropped out of hyperspace a few thousand miles from Coruscant. The planet was alive with activity. Ships crowded the space lanes, in a hurry to get on or off the planet. The planet glowed with lights from the immense metropolis. Jared entered the atmosphere and proceeded to fly directly to the Jedi Temple.  
Landing in the hangar must have been quite a sight for onlookers. Piloting a strange fighter and emerging in unfamiliar red armor would have been quite an interesting thing to see in such a subdued setting. Jared took off his helmet and carried it along as he raced to the Jedi Council chambers. Jared skidded to a halt in front of the doors and took a deep breath. Then he knocked softly on the door. The doors opened slowly without anyone opening them. Master Yoda and Master Windu were sitting alone on two of the chairs in the chamber. They looked at Jared in surprise. "Returned you have, Padawan!" exclaimed Yoda. "What are wearing?" asked Master Windu. Then Yoda and Mace looked at each other. "Where is Fajo?" asked Master Windu finally. "Allow me to explain," began Jared. The two Masters nodded. "Go ahead," said Master Windu. Jared explained that he had noticed an increase in trouble on Jedi missions. When he had looked into it, he was able to trace everything back to a mysterious organization called the Jin'Ha. At this point the Masters nodded. Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi had run into them some years ago.  
Jared continued. He told them how he had left, how Fajo came after him, how they were ambushed by the Jin'Ha and then captured, and finally how he had escaped, which explained how he came to be wearing what he was. "Something you may not know about the Jin'Ha is their armor," said Jared. "What about it?" asked Mace. "Watch," said Jared. Jared flicked his wrist and his lightsaber slid into his hand from its hiding place in his sleeve. Twisting the knob on it, he set it to full power and ignited it. He extended his arm and struck down on it with all his strength. There was an explosion of sparks and the Masters turned away from the flash. When they turned back, they could see that there was only a mere nick in the armor where Jared had struck it. "Now Force-push me as hard as you can," he said. Yoda looked at Mace and extended his hand. Looking back at Jared, he drew in energy and hurled it at Jared. There was a visible tremor in the air from the force of the blow, but when it hit Jared, he only moved about a finger's length.  
"This is indeed an improvement on their armor since last time," mused Master Windu. "Stopped, they must be," declared Yoda. "I agree." "Wait a minute," said Jared. "Aren't you forgetting something? We have to get Fajo back." "Ah yes, the boy's Master, forget him we must not," said Yoda. "Suggestions on finding him, have you Jared?" "I placed one of our specially shielded homing trackers on the ship," replied Jared. "If we find the ship, then we find where their hideout is," said Mace. "Agreed," said Yoda. "The plan, this is," began Yoda.  
  
****************************************  
  
The warship was nearly at the military base of the Jin'Ha when they received a hail from a ship directly in their path. The warship dropped out of lightspeed so that they could reply. "What do you need?" said the captain, exasperated. "We.require...assistance." said a labored voice. "What do you need?" repeated the captain. On the distressed ship, the speaker cut the transmission. "The disabling is complete," he said. "They won't see them coming." On the warship, the captain shut off his comm, disgusted. "Damn ships, slowing us down," he muttered angrily. "Prepare us for hyperspace and go as soon as we're ready," he shouted to his helmsman. He could feel the ship shudder as it began the jump to lightspeed when there was a wrenching explosion that jerked him out of his seat. "What the hell was that?" he shouted over the din. "Engine nacelles destroyed, Captain!" shouted a voice. "There are boarding parties in every docking bay. "Shit," he said softly.  
Fajo was asleep in his bunk when the engines exploded, causing him to flip out of bed onto his feet. Pirates? he wondered. But no, he could feel Jedi presences on board. Just as he was thinking these things, his door slid open and a Jedi tossed him his lightsaber. "Let's go!" he shouted as he turned and sprinted along with the other Jedi running down the corridor. Fajo joined them and was reunited with his Padawan they embraced each other briefly, then Jared reminded Fajo, "Come on. We still have work to do. You didn't think this whole party was just for you, did you?" He smiled. "Well, it would have been nice," said Fajo, smiling as well. Then they both turned and sprinted down the hall. They raced to the captain's quarters, got the information they needed and left. From the explosion till the last ship left, the whole raid took only twenty minutes. The Jin'Ha had no idea what hit them till it was too late. 


	5. The Assault

Disclaimer: Remember, I don't own Star Wars!  
  
The Two Brothers  
  
Fajo awoke to see Jared awake, dressed, and sitting by the window, meditating. Although he did nothing but open his eyes, Jared sensed immediately that his Master was awake. "I thought I'd get an early start on a big day," said Jared quietly. Fajo got out of bed and asked Jared what time it was. "It's just before sunrise," he replied. "We'd better eat some breakfast then," said Fajo, "If we're going to do this thing."  
Fajo and Jared walked down the hall towards the cafeteria after Fajo had showered and dressed. The tension was thick in the Temple. It had been nearly a week since Fajo had been rescued. On board the warship the Jedi had learned a great deal about the Jin'Ha. They learned what part they planned to play in the recently declared Clone Wars, which was to eliminate the Jedi to make the Republic army weaker. But most importantly, they learned where the Jin'Ha were operating out of. It seemed they were operating out of the mining planet of Bandomeer. In the mines, they found ancient, giant hand-made caves that were stockpiled with the red Force and lightsaber resistant material, called cortosis. They already had some from their mines at Obredaan, but this new abundance seemed to make them much more powerful.  
Now that they knew this, they also knew that they would most likely lose to the Jin'Ha if the Jin'Ha made an outright attack, or just went along with their original plan. The Jedi had to take the offensive, which would start today. Today, at midday, all Jedi Masters, Knights, and capable Padawans were being shipped off secretly to Bandomeer, where they would make their attack at night. They had been allowed one hundred Republic troops to assist them in their attack, as well as a few pilots to fly their drop ships. As time went on, the tension became more and more noticeable. People didn't talk much, not even Jared and Nath said much. Nath was not as experienced or trained as any of his friends, including Jared. Because all his friends and his Master were going into a dangerous situation, it was easy to see why Nath would be a bit reclusive and subdued.  
After they ate, Jared and Fajo went down to the arena and picked an empty room where they could practice. They were fortunate to find an empty one, because most others had at least one pair of Jedis in them. Changing into battle armor, Fajo and Jared ignited their lightsabers and took the defensive stance of beginning a battle. They began to circle each other, and Jared began to speak. "Remember," he said, "Their armor is resistant to our lightsabers, so they won't go down unless you hit them in a gap in their armor, like at the knees or neck. They also carry pikes, swords, and similar weapons made of cortosis, so you can't just slice through them. And some will carry blasters too." "I'll remember that," said Fajo. "Now, shall we begin?" "By all means," said Jared, and lunged forward.  
Fajo sidestepped his lunge and struck out with his saber. Jared brought his saber around his back and blocked the strike. Jared spun and dealt a stinging blow to Fajo's knee. He cried out in surprise and gave Jared an equally stinging hit on his neck. They turned and faced each other again, both of them smiling. Then they began again.  
  
*************************************************  
  
The freighter landed as the sun was going down in a barren wasteland not too far from Bandomeer's only city. Obi-Wan was sitting next to Fajo and Jared, along with his Padawan, Anakin, who looked at his gloved hand intently. Obi-Wan leaned over and said, "Every time I come here, I feel as I did years ago; frightened, angry, and..." Obi-Wan paused as he groped for the right word. "Hope," he said finally, remembering his times with his friend Si Treemba, the Arconan, at the Enrichment Zones.  
There was a shuddering of the ship, and Anakin looked up sharply, pulled away from his thoughts. As the door slid open and a ramp extended to the ground, Anakin glanced at his Master. "Let's do it," he said.  
The large drop ships raced along the plain, kicking up dust in their wake. Jared checked the radar in the ship. "We're almost to the coordinates," he said, as much to himself as to the rest of the people in the ship. "Weapons ready," Fajo told the rest of the Jedi and troops. The Jedi drew their lightsabers and held them at the ready, while the troops loaded their rifles and held them in the ready position. Since there were five hundred Jedi and one hundred Republic troops going, they decided to split up into five groups of one hundred Jedi and twenty troops. It seemed the best compromise between lots of groups and lots of people in the groups. The ships slowed down and came to a halt, opening their large doors wide. The Jedi and troops jumped out of the doors and raced towards the mineshaft entrances and HQ buildings they knew secretly housed the Jin'Ha, instead of the Meerians that claimed to own the place.  
"Teams One and Two to the mines!" shouted Master Windu. "Teams Three, Four, and Five, follow me!" The groups split up and headed towards their respective targets. Racing up to the HQ buildings, the three teams split up again and each took one of the HQ buildings. Bursting through the double doors of his team's building, Jared saw a silver-haired Meerian look up in horror at the mob of Jedi and clones and faint, falling on the floor. "Get the Meerian out of here!" shouted Fajo. Anakin picked the alien up, slung the small body over his shoulder and run out with a pair of troops escorting him. "Find a freight turbolift!" yelled Fajo. "Over here!" came a reply. They rushed over to where a Jedi was waving. "Here's four," she said. "That'll do," Fajo replied. The team split up and stuffed themselves in the elevators. "Everyone to the lowest floor!" said Fajo before the doors closed.  
In the mines, the two teams rushed past surprised miners and archaeologists. "Everyone out!" yelled Mace. The frightened and probably uninformed workers of the Jin'Ha rushed to the outside. Jin'Ha guards ran up the curving path to see what was happening and were struck down a few precise laser bolts. Mace stopped a hurrying miner and asked him how far down the mine went. "Uh..i-it only goes down to Core 6!" he said. Mace released him and proceeded to lead the team down to Core 6.  
Unbeknownst to the five teams who were all below ground, all the Jin'Ha in the area had gathered outside to prevent any chance of escape. All the fighters and warships were away, so the drop ships were able to climb into the air to avoid being shot down.  
"All the charges set?" asked the leader of each team. "All set," came their replies. "Then let's go! This place'll blow in thirty minutes!" Rushing outside, the teams found themselves confronted by a massive army of about two thousand Jin'Ha. But they did not stop. The army clearly did not expect this. Nearly half of them were struck down in just a minute. After that minute, however, they started to fight back. The drop ships hovered in the air above, watching the fight, not being able to participate. They would have come closer to pick up Jedi, but they knew how crucial it was all Jedi remained fighting.  
As the fighting continued, Fajo heard a gasp and a thud. Looking behind him, he saw that Jared had a pair of blaster wounds in an arm and a leg, and was currently lying on his back, staring at the sky. "Jared!" he exclaimed, and dragged him behind a large boulder, of which a few other wounded Jedi had taken refuge behind. One was not moving. "I'll be fine," said Jared, still staring at the sky. Something was bothering him, but he didn't know what. "You go fight." Then he cocked his head to one side. "Say, Fajo, didn't we bring five drop ships?" Fajo turned his head to the sky. "Yes," he said. "Why do you ask?" "Because now there's only four." "One, two, three, four, you're right! There are only four." "So where's the other one?"  
They could hear the drone of the hovering drop ships over the fighting constantly, but now there was another sound. It was more of a revving engine sound than the drop ships' humming. Then, bursting out of a cloud, they could hear the source of the new noise. It was a Republic gunship. The gunship wheeled and opened fire on the Jin'Ha soldiers. The Jedis and the clones scattered and let the gunship take care of the rest of the enemies. The drop ships lowered and let the Jedis and clones board. "There's no more room!" shouted he pilot. "That's alright, we'll have the gunship pick us up," replied Fajo. The ship lifted off, leaving the remaining Jedis and clones behind. They stayed behind the rock for a minute and watched the gunship and some troops finish off the Jin'Ha. A clone staggered over, gasping, a bloody wound in his shoulder. "Son of a bitch!" he said, touching his wound gingerly. "Those pikes have a nasty bite!" Abruptly, the firing stopped. Leaving the boulder, Fajo went out in the open and waved to the gunship to pick them up. The gunship turned and set down next to the boulder. Anakin jumped out and helped them get on.  
The gunship, having picked up the few stragglers, lifted off and headed back towards the freighter. Looking back, Jared saw the charges detonate and create a fiery explosion. Turning back to the inside of the gunship, Jared watched Fajo finish putting bandages over his leg and arm where he had been shot. Jared could see red spots forming in the bandages. He looked over at the wounded troop. "Is he?" asked Jared softly. "Just sleeping," said a healer Jedi. Anakin knelt next to Jared and Fajo and said, "See, I told you I saw a gunship in that spaceport!" Jared smiled and said, "I'm just glad that the Republic army left it here after the battle." Catching Anakin's look, he added, "And that you spotted it and convinced the pilot to go back and check." "Thank you," said Anakin. Fajo joined in and said, "And I'm just glad we all made it out alive. Amazingly, no one was killed!" "You know," Jared said, "After all this, going to conference missions and talking to boring alien species doesn't seem so bad after all!" 


	6. A New Threat

The Two Brothers  
  
The remaining Jin'Ha had been taken care of, and the war continued without any other interfering third parties... for a while. Three weeks after the battle at Bandomeer, another strange group would enter the fray, one that posed a threat not only to the Republic, but to the Separatists as well. A threat to everyone on the planet of, well, actually, this planet shall have to remain nameless. The Jedi Order considers the name of the planet, and the planet, to be evil, and against everything the Force stands for. It is a lawless planet, a haven for those who do not wish to be found, and a hellish place by everyone else. No plant grows on this planet, except for a thorny bramble bush. It has perpetual cloud cover caused by its atmospheric conditions, the terrible pollution, and the thousands of volcanoes that dot the planet's surface. The water is unfit for consumption, the animals are vicious, the natives are appalling, its terrain is all rock, the Force is a curse word, and it only has one city to speak of. The list goes on and on. All this, plus the Clone War battles raging on the surface, makes it even more mysterious why the newcomers want it so badly. But that's later along in the story. Going back to the beginning....  
  
"Jared?" Fajo poked his head through the door of his brother's room on board a transport bound for an outlying system in the galaxy. "Yes?" replied Jared, looking up from a card he was reading. Fajo smiled. "I've been thinking long and hard about this, Jared," he said. "But I've made up my mind. As you know, today is your eighteenth birthday. Soon you will be ready for the trials. There is little more I can teach about the ways of the Force. I don't doubt that by your next birthday you will be a Jedi Knight. To commemorate this occasion, I have something to give you. I hope it will help you as much as it helped me." With that Fajo produced from his robes a silver ring and handed it to Jared. Jared took the ring and examined it closely in his fingers. It was warm to the touch; too warm to be just heated up from handling. Jared looked at Fajo. "You noticed?" he asked. Jared nodded. "Very good. It is quite literally, a mood ring." Jared continued to stare at him. He caught the stare. "Meaning," he continued, "that it senses, not your mood, but those of others." Jared kept looking at his brother. Fajo sighed. "What I mean is, this ring will translate the emotions of a being into temperature!" he exclaimed. "Ohhhhh," said Jared. "Yes," said Fajo, "now you get it. When you access the Force, and focus on a particular being, their emotions will come across as a temperature change. If they are indifferent, calm, there will be no change. If they are angry or hateful, the ring will cool off. If someone is happy, or in love, the ring will get warm. It is a very useful tool, as I am sure you will find. However, beware, for there can be a downside. If you use this on someone who harbors deep, cold hatred, the icy bite of the ring is quite alarming, as is the burn of the ring when someone is passionately in love. So my advice to you is to use this gift wisely and carefully. It can help you, but it can also do you harm, in more ways than one."  
Jared studied the ring a moment longer, in thought. "Thank you, Master," he said. "I really appreciate this gift. I will try to use it as you have said." At that moment an alarm sounded and the ship rocked. The brothers raced to a viewport. "Pirates?" asked Jared. "No," said Fajo. "I've never seen these types of ships before." The pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Strap yourselves down people, we're gonna have to make a jump to lightspeed, and it's gonna be bumpy," he said. Fajo and Jared sat down and locked in the restraints on their chairs. Outside they could see the stars streak past and blur into white as the made the jump into hyperspace. The ship rumbled and groaned with effort. After about ten minutes they dropped back into normal space. Looking outside, they could see a gray planet wreathed in clouds. "Is that...?" asked Jared. "Yes, I'm afraid so," replied Fajo. "We'll just have to hope we can find a Republic hangar before we get shot down." Just then the pilot's voice was heard again. "I'm sorry folks," it said, "But this is the only, and incidentally safest, place I could get us to on our damaged hyperdrive. However, don't worry about getting down to the planet. We can make it on our engines. What you should worry about are those guys following us." Fajo and Jared looked at each other and raced to find an aft viewport. When they found one, they could see that the strange ships were still following them. But before, there were only a couple small ships. "I strongly urge you all to prepare for combat," came the pilot's voice. Now there were at least a thousand ships the size of their transport, and at least five hundred the size of Republic transports. "Because as good as a pilot I am, I can't work miracles with that many ships on me. I think we can make it to the surface, but even if we do, you'll have to consider what could happen when they get there." "We have to contact the Republic on the surface," said Fajo. They turned away from the port and sprinted down a hallway. Jared was in front, and was about to round a corner when he sensed something that made him duck. There was a hum as a lightsaber passed over his head and smashed into a circuit box, causing a shower of sparks to erupt from its broken wires. The lights in the hallway went out. There was a roar of anger, and then a hiss as Fajo ignited his saber. Its orange glow illuminated the hallway, as did the attacker's blue saber. In the light of the two sabers, Fajo and Jared could see that their attacker was invisible! "Go, Padawan!" shouted Fajo, snapping Jared out of his awe. "I'll take care of it! Go!" As Jared raced towards the Communications room, he could hear the clash of lightsabers behind him. He had never seen anything like these people before, but he had a feeling he was going to be seeing them a lot for a while. He only hoped that the Republic would be able to handle it. A thought struck him. What if these interlopers aren't like the Jin'Ha? What if they aren't in league with the Separatists? What if they are too powerful for us? If we called for help, even from the nearest military post, it could be too late and too few to help us! That means we could only ask for aid from the Separatists! Jared shuddered. He didn't want to have them helping the Republic, but desperate times do call for desperate measures. He hoped they wouldn't have to take them. But that was something he couldn't control. The only thing he could control was contacting the Republic, and that was what he was going to do. He was about to turn the corner into the Communications room, but he stopped himself. Flattening himself against the wall, he focused his hearing on the room. There was no sound but the sounding of feet moving around in the room. There was only one being in the room. With a flash of insight, Jared took the ring out of a pouch on his belt and slipped it on his finger. Focusing on the being, he found that the ring was quite cool, which meant the being was angry. Taking a deep breath Jared activated his lightsaber and turned into the room. Jared was taken aback by what he saw. "Who are you?" 


End file.
